Mesa Pushes Past Eagles in Home Finale

The MSJC football team lost a heart breaker on Saturday night as they fell to visiting San Diego Mesa 35-31 in dramatic fashion at HCN Bank Stadium in Menifee.

The Eagles got their first points of the night from the defense when Ifeanyi Onye sacked the Mesa quarterback stripping him of the ball at the Olympian 5-yard-line where Christian Wilson was there to pick it up and run into the end zone. MSJC led 7-0 as those would be the only points of the opening quarter as both teams struggled to find offensive footing.

That changed quickly as Mesa scored on the first play of the second period to knot the game up 7-7. The Eagles next series set up the Olympians in great field position as a short punt and MSJC personal foul gave Mesa the ball at the Eagle 22 yard-line. Mesa scored three plays later to lead 14-7. The Eagles responded in a big way before the half as they scored 21 points in the final 4:09 to take a 28-14 lead at the break. The 21 unanswered points started with a 13-yard run by quarterback Cole Vasquez to even the score. Eddie Smith then made an interception on Mesa's next drive to set up the offense at the Olympian 40-yard-line. Three plays later Vasquez connected with Keon Gantt on a 25-yard scoring strike to give MSJC a 21-14 lead. Another three and out from the Olympians allowed James Trevino to return a punt 24 yards to the Mesa 31-yard line and give MSJC one more shot at the end zone before halftime. With just 10 seconds to play before the break Vasquez threw another touchdown pass this time to Jackson Weng from 16 yards out to give the Eagles momentum heading into halftime.

The teams came out of the locker room and again had trouble getting their offenses going as neither team put any points on the board in the third quarter. Mesa would explode for two quick touchdowns early in the fourth as they connected on 35-yard and 31-yard passes both to Aleonte Logan to even the game up at 28-28 with nine minutes left. MSJC would regroup and put together a 10 play 71-yard drive that took nearly five minutes off the clock ending in a Sebastian Stapleton field goal from 27 yards to regain the lead at 31-28 with just four minutes to play. The Olympians then made the play of the night on the ensuing kickoff when Makai Gray-Virgil returned the ball 94-yards for the go-ahead touchdown. The Eagles were unable to answer as Vasquez was picked off on MSJC's final two drives of the night.

Vasquez finished the night 23 of 41 passing for 239 yards with a pair of touchdowns and two interceptions. Weng made a game high 8 receptions for 89 yards and Trevino had 4 catches for 44 yards. Donovan Harvey had five receptions out of the backfield.

Smith again led the defensive charge with 10 total tackles; he also had a fumble recovery and an interception. Giovanny Monge added 6 tackles, and Estevon De La Torre had four tackles and a pair of pass breakups.

The loss drops MSJC to 3-6 overall on the season and 1-5 in National Southern League games. The Eagles will play their final game of the year on Saturday when they travel to San Marcos to take on Palomar College. Kickoff Saturday is set for 6 pm.